New research by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds that installing a residential solar energy system increases a home’s value by an average of $17,000 or $5,500/kW.

The study analyzed 72,000 California homes sold between 2000 and mid-2009, almost 2,000 of which had solar energy systems. It found that homes with solar sold for an average of $17,000 more than comparable non-solar homes.

Homes with solar power attracted higher offers from buyers who wanted to save money on utility bills and reduce their impact on the environment. The increase home sale prices was comparable to the average cost of system installation, and solar homeowners also enjoyed the benefit of dramatically lower electric bills.

California Green Designs is one of many solar installers in the solar installation market, we want to make sure you feel comfortably entrusting your home with us. This can be a tough decision, as you have to balance factors such as price, qualification and experience. Solar PV energy systems themselves are expensive, complex, and could even be dangerous if installed incorrectly – which is why you should use a licensed contractor with their own full time installation teams. Here are 5 things to look for in a solar contractor before investing in solar.

Researching your Solar Installer:

1. Do they have good references from other homeowners?

Word of mouth is priceless and references from past customers can be hugely important in selecting the right solar contractor. Ask them for referrals and do a background check. Also we recommend do a quick check with the BBB and make sure they have a high standing.

2. Is your Solar Installation Company Licensed and Bonded?

Is your Solar Contractor fully bonded and licensed by the State of California, if so, what is the status of the license and have any complaints been filed against the license holder. This information can also be obtained from the Contractor’s State License Board of the State of California. Also make sure that your contractor has both a Contractor’s General and Professional Liability Insurance policy, and a performance bond (typically $100,000).

2. Has the Company been around for a while?

You’re going to be entering a relationship with your contractor, they should guarantee their work for ten years. If they haven’t been around for more than a couple, how can you be sure they will be around in 7 years time. Make sure your solar company has a long history in solar to back up their work. This is why it’s also important for the installer to do it’s own installation, and not hire a subcontractor. A sub may or may not have done many solar installations in the past, and this is someone who will be making holes in your roof and working with electricity.

4. Do they Provide you with a Free on Site Estimate?

Each solar electric system is unique. Differences in roof type, orientation, possible shading, electrical interconnection options and customer requirements mean that there isn’t a “one size fits all” solution to solar. A good contractor will not hesitate to offer you a Free Estimate and a custom solar proposal for your home. He or she will also take the time to answer all your questions about a solar pv system that is custom designed for your needs.

5. Read the Contract

Be sure to read the contract carefully,as questions and be especially mindful of a lease contract if you are leasing your solar pv system. Ask your solar contractor to explain lease terms thoroughly, go through other lease options, and make sure you understand the escalator clause and other lease terms. Also make sure buying the system doesn’t make more sense for your situation.

By doing your homework and comparing various contractors, you are more likely to hire an excellent solar company.

Great news! The GWP Solar Solutions Program is officially back on line starting July 1st 2011. The solar rebate was shut down in August last year due to high demand. The officially rebate rate has been released, it has dropped from last year, but it’s still one of the best rebates in the country. There’s a graph with all the details below.

If you own a home or building in the area and are interested in going solar, sign up soon, and get all that paperwork in order before the rebates shy away again.

GWP Solar Solutions Program

Incentives For Systems Less than or Equal to 30 KW (Most Residential projects fall into this category)

We’re excited to be taking part in the 8th Annual Alternative Building Materials & Design Conference & Expo AKA AltBuild, this weekend. It’s one of the most interesting and sustainability oriented Green events in the Country. The event will be held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Friday May 6th and Saturday May 7th, 2011, from 10am to 5pm.

Stop by the California Green Designs booth and catch up on all the latest news regarding solar. We’ll be showing off one of our largest installations, and have on display two full-sized solar panels, an inverter, and a solar pathfinder – the instrument used to project the daily trek of the sun all year long.

Other events that will be held at the expo include the Energy Upgrade California Networking Event, and the Ask A Pro event organized by the AIA Los Angeles Chapter where folks can get advice on green renovation questions from licensed architects and LEED Accredited Professionals. The Hennessey & Ingalls bookstore will feature architecture, design and eco-friendly books on display and for purchase and the Post Alt-Build Mixer organized by the Westside Branch of USGBC-LA will be held as well.

Come and see the APEX Block Demo Trailer built made of 80% post industrial recycled polystyrene foam and 20% cement. LifeSource Water will provide refills of filtered water so bring your cateens to AltBuild and the ever popular AltBuild Café will offer a complete menu of lunch and dessert options.

Zero Waste will attempt to capture as many valuable materials as possible through Zero Waste Stations and to encourage bike use to the event, a FREE Bike Valet parking will be set up by the City of Santa Monica.

The month of April is the environmental kickoff for the green industry. During April we celebrate not only Earth Day but also, and with just as much passion, we mark Arbor Day. We are all aware of the many benefits of trees such as their absorption of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and their release of oxygen which is vital to all living things.

Trees also provide much needed shade, keep our climate cool, conserve water, improve air quality, and create their own eco systems for animals and other wildlife. In addition to these benefits, trees are also exceptionally beautiful and their presence in Los Angeles gives our neighborhoods amazing beauty and tranquility. They provide cover for paved surfaces, reduce water runoff and reflected heat. This helps lower airconditioning use. Trees improve the curb appeal of a neighborhood, increasing real estate values by 5 to 20 percent.

As a metric of how environmentally beneficial our work is, we have always kept track of the amount of electrical energy that our solar electric installations produce, and compare it with how many pounds of carbon dioxide we’ve offset, that would have been produced by coal for the same amount of energy. We also compare how many acres of trees would have been needed to offset those carbon dioxide emissions, that we’ve essentially eliminated. To date, we’ve installed over 4.5637 Megawatts of Solar. The average energy produced by this amount of power, is approximately 25.1 Megawatt-hours per day. So, each day our systems eliminate enough carbon dioxide emissions that would have required approximately 4,121 acres of trees, or roughly half a million trees, to offset.

When we design and install Solar Electric systems we are especially careful not to disturb trees. If any tree trimming is needed on a client’s property, we always turn to a qualified tree surgeon, such as Daniel Correa Gardening. We think that trees are a vital part of green technology and their strategic placement can help enhance the performance of a solar system. To find out more, read next week’s blog entry on “Solar, Your Electric Bill and Trees”.

At California Green Designs we love trees. We think trees rock! We have them in our company logo and in our hearts. Happy Arbor Day!

There are many great ways to Promote Solar Energy in your Neighborhood, one of the most rewarding is to take part in Solar Home Tours.

CAGD urges commercial and residential owners of solar electric systems to sign up for the 15th Annual National Solar Tour, to host visitors interested in learning more about living and interacting with solar.

Tours take place in neighborhoods all over California, in most locations, the Tour is scheduled to be on Saturday, October 1.

As this year’s Earth Day celebration approaches (mark your calendars for this Friday, April 22nd), we’d like to reflect on the truly beneficial aspects of what we do as a solar company. Each day, we enable people living in our communities to take advantage of solar energy and in so doing, we help improve the world we live in. The sun is a truly amazing resource – it sustains life on our planet by keeping temperatures moderate, it gives light, allows crops and plants to grow and among other things, its energy can be converted to electricity which has powered the improvement in the standard of living since Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb.

As a company which specializes in helping people take advantage of solar photovoltaic energy, we get excited about Earth Day. On April 21st, we’ll be at the Earth Day Celebration at the prestigious Fox Plaza building. Located at 2121 Avenue of the Stars in Century City the event will be a great opportunity to meet and talk to people about green issues.

To quote Ramez “If humanity could capture one tenth of one percent of the solar energy striking the earth – one part in one thousand – we would have access to six times as much energy as we consume in all forms today, with almost no greenhouse gas emissions.”

In the article, with data provided by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the author goes on to explain that the trend of falling PV module costs has followed an exponential pattern over the past 30 years. The trend follows the famous “Moore’s law” trend seen in computer chip technology, only instead of doubling capacity every 18 months, “Solar Module Moore’s Law” explains the roughly 7% price drop of modules each year.

The author goes on to explain that since retail electricity prices are currently rising by a few percent each year, by 2018, the cost of solar electricity in the average location in the U.S. will cost the same as electricity produced from coal. By 2030, the author says, solar electricity is likely to cost half the cost of coal electricity. A typical solar module with a 20 year life span is estimated to produce about 7-10 times more energy than that which is required to manufacture it and solar technology represents a green power source with virtually no carbon emissions.

We had a great time at the Go Green Expo this weekend. One of the premiere sustainable lifestyle events of the year, Go Green was buzzing with excitement. The warm weekend weather made for a great turnout all weekend long, and the excitement of sustainable green living and clean solar energy was in the air. Our team members Patricia, David, Dean, and Shawn talked to a lot of folks interested in solar for their homes and businesses.

We were thrilled by all the interest from so many people who believe that solar energy is a vital part of our energy future and are we’re happy to share its many benefits. We also had a lot of excited participants in our solar charger raffle. Stay tuned for the winner announcement soon. We’re already looking forward to next year’s event and in the meantime look for us at green events all year long, such as Earth Day at Fox Plaza in Century City on April 21.

Located at Agoura Road and Las Virgenes Road (just behind the Starbucks)

Join us at the City of Calabasas Earth Day Celebration on April 2, 2011 for an afternoon of fun. The celebration will feature educational booths, informational speakers, eco-friendly games and activities, live music and entertainment.

The event will be held on a site along Las Virgenes Creek that was restored a few years ago. Entrance to the event is from Agoura Road and a walking path is available along the event site to accommodate strollers and wheelchairs.

A large turnout is expected for this event; more than 1,200 people attended last year’s Earth Day Celebration/Green Expo. This is a great opportunity to educate the public on benefits of being “green”, sustainability, energy conservation, and ways they can help the environment.

Make sure you stop by the California Green Designs booth and talk to our rep Dean to learn more about the great benefits of solar power for your home or business. Be sure to ask us about our new lease program that makes solar power accessible to everyone.

Events like the Earth Day Festival are the perfect opportunity to have fun while showing our collective commitment to environmental sustainability. Crews from Calabasas Cable TV and reporters from local media will be covering the event. Local and regional elected officials will also be in attendance.

The great federal grant program for renewable energy generation projects that inspired so many businesses to go solar is renewed for another year.

President Obama signed a tax package earlier today that extended a grant program, which provides 30 percent of the cost of a clean power project.

The program was born out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and was originally set to expired Dec. 31, 2010.

The program gives the cash equivalent of a 30 percent investment tax credit. The tax credit is good from 2009-2016, but it isn’t very useful for many renewable energy project developers, especially during this economic downturn, or if they want use it to attract banks or other investors who finance projects in exchange for the chance to use the tax credit.

Trade groups such as Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) wanted a 2-year extension, arguing that the economy will need that much fully recover. SEIA issued a statement last week noting that the program had helped 1,179 solar projects that has collectively attracted over $1.3 billion in investment across 42 states.

The prospect that the program would not be extended prompted many new projects to rush to meet program rules that essentially gave them a grace period to complete their projects and still be eligible to receive the grant. Projects would’ve been eligible if construction had begun by the end of 2010, or if the developers proved they had spent or incurred 5 percent of the projects’ costs before the year’s end.

In the last few months, the California Energy Commission made it known that it was acting quickly to approve a series of large-scale solar power projects in order to allow the developers to start construction or meet the 5 percent rule. The commission held up its end of the bargain and approved all nine projects totaling more than 4.1 GW. The commission approved the ninth project earlier this week.

Email Subscription

Search

Read more

California Green Designs is proud to present Solar Saturdays a new series of free seminars hosted at California Green Designs offices in Tarzana the second Saturday of every month. Saturday, January 14, 2012, 10:00 AM Free Solar: “$0 Down Solar – Are the radio ads real, or is it a scam?” Come to our Solar […]

1) Reduce air pollution Energy and Transportation are the top two causes of air pollution. Air pollution contributes to diseases including cancer and asthma. It irritates our eyes, makes us feel tired throughout our day and gives us headaches. 2) Gas prices at $5.00 Gas prices are still on the rise & Electricity rates climb […]

Solar is back in LA! Earlier this year the LADWP solar incentive program was shut down due to overwhelming demand. From its inception, the demand for solar in LA has been high, this year the LADWP rebate program had been swamped with $112 million in requests for energy rebates, but the program only has $30 million available […]

Great news! The GWP Solar Solutions Program is officially back on line starting July 1st 2011. The solar rebate was shut down in August last year due to high demand. The officially rebate rate has been released, it has dropped from last year, but it’s still one of the best rebates in the country. There’s […]

The month of April is the environmental kickoff for the green industry. During April we celebrate not only Earth Day but also, and with just as much passion, we mark Arbor Day. We are all aware of the many benefits of trees such as their absorption of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and their release […]